Paper fastener



n s. A. CROSBY PAPER FASTENER- Filed Nov. 30, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEY June 3, 1941. s. A. CROSBY 2,243,855

- PAPER FASTENER Filed Nov. 30, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEY Patented June 3, 1941 PAPER FASTENER Stephen A. Crosby, New York, N. Y., assignor to Speed Products Company, New York, N. Y.

Application November 30, 1937, Serial No. 177,183

8 Claims. ,(Cl. 24-153) The subject matter of this invention is a paper fastener of the type disclosed in United States Letters Patent 2,012,572 issued to Jack Linsky August '7, 1935, wherein the cover of the compressor has a sliding and hinge connectio-n with therear bead of the frame of the compressor and wherein the frame and cover include cooperative front beads to permit the cover to be removably locked with the frame when desired and allow the cover to be displaced longitudinally of the frame to unlock the cover whereby the cover may be pivoted or swung rearwardly whereby access may be had to a pair of. foldable prongs of a strap adapted to be threaded through the frame. In this type of construction, the sliding and hinge connection at the back of the compressor constitutes means to prevent transverse and forward linear displacement of the cover in respect to the frame. In the manufacture of this type of compressor, certain difliculties have arisen. It has been discovered that due to the uncontrollable variations in thickness and temper in the standard sheet metal ribbon stock employed, the latter would not permit of sufiicient accuracy during manufacture in the matter of appropriately sizing the beads forming the hinge and slidable connection at the back of the compressor and since such variations in sizes of these beads would occur, the compressors, after having been assembled, that is, a certain percentage of. these compressors contained a defect, to wit, the rear beads of the covers would disconnect from the rear beads of the frames, setting up an undesirable condition whereby the covers may be shifted forwardly and linearly across their respective frames and be disconnected therefrom and consequently the dominating object of the invention is to provide an improved covered compressor of the type alluded to which may be conveniently manufactured without having the defects and disadvantages referred to and in this connection in particular in the matter of providing means on the frame of the compressor for cooperation with the rear bead of the cover to prevent involuntary transverse linear and forward displacement or separation of the cover in respect to the frame and yet maintaining the desired sliding and hinged connection. Other objects, advantages, and features of the invention will be better understood from the following detailed description considered in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective View of the improved covered paper fastener according to my inven tion, showing the cover closed and locked.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the covered paper fastener wherein the cover of the compressor has been unlocked, shifted to the right of the frame and raised to permit access to the resilient and foldable prongs.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the paper fastener shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Fig; 5 is a transverse sectional view on the line 55 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 6 is an exploded View of the paper fastener and Figs. 7-12 inclusive show several enlarged sectional views of the slidable and hinged connection between the cover and frame and particularly illustrating the several positions of the cover in respect to the frame when the cover is shifted from a fully closed to a fully opened position.

The paper fastener according to the invention is herein generally denoted iii and embodies; a U shaped metal strap having a ribbed reinforced base I I and the upstanding resilient and foldable prongs or arms l2; and a compressor comprising a frame It and the swingable and slidable cover I5.

The frame I4 is provided with transversely disposed spaced slots 16 through which the bendable prongs i2 are threaded. This frame also includes upstanding and struck out stop lugs H, and the trapezoidal shaped flanges I8 extending along the sides thereof. Further according to the invention, the rear of the frame is provided with an interrupted posterior hollow bead broadly designated is having formed therein spaced gaps 2D to provide an intermediate step bead 2|. The front or anterior part of the frame includes the interrupted bead 22 provided with a longitudinally disposed recess 23 and the reentrant slot 24.

The cover 15 issubstantially coextensive with the length of the frame and is appropriately bent to provide a top part 26 from which integrally depends the inclined downwardly and outwardly extending transversely disposed wings 21 provided at their rear and front edges with integrally merged but upstanding beads 28 and 29, and 30 and 3| respectively.

Posterior beads 28 and 29 may be considered as a single bead interrupted by the gap or slot 32, while beads 36 and 3| may also be considered as a single bead interrupted by the elongated slot or gap 23 and the cutaway or slot 24. Essentially the cover may be said to be of trapezoidal form since the top portion 26 thereof is considerably less in width than the base of the cover which in the case illustrated would be a plane contacting the lower portions of the front and rear beads thereof.

The slidable and hinge connection is formed by arranging posterior beads 28 and 29 of the cover within the longitudinally disposed posterior bead 59 of the frame, the last mentioned bead being appreciably larger than the identical inner posterior beads 28 and 29. Having assembled the posterior beads of the cover and frame, fragmentary part 2i of the bead I9 is clinched inwardly, that is, slightly deformed, to constitute a stop and cooperate with the side walls 34 and 35 of slot 32 of the slidable cover.- 7

The upwardly extending struck. out lugs 11 cooperate with the posterior beads 28 and 29 to prevent the latter from being accidentally and operatively detached or removed fromthe rear bead of the framie during rotation of the rear bead of the cover. It is also evident that the coaction of the front and rear beads of the cover and frame is such that the cover may be slidably moved longitudinally of the frame.

In the closed and locked position of the cover as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, it will be observed, that wall 3% of inner bead 29 is against stop bead 2i. -I-I=nce the cover cannot be further slidably displaced to the left. In such closed and locked relation of the cover, rear beads 28 and 2s of the cover are within the rear bead IQ of the frame and are flush with the outer ends thereof. But it should be appreciated that at this time front beads 36 and 3| of the cover are slidably interlocked with the interrupted front bead 22. Consequently the cover cannot be swung rearwardly to open the compressor.

In actual practice this locking relation is maintained by the prongs l2 which due to their resiliency yieldingl bear and exert an upward thrust against the inner surface of top 29 of thecover l5, thus holding the front beads in frictional engagement, and accordingly the cover cannot be accidentally displaced due to the slight pressure imparted by the resilient prongs l2 and the latter in a closed relation of the cover are disposed in fact within a housing defined by the cover and frame characterize a sliding and hinged connection and as illustrated it will be observed that the inner beads 28 and 29 are smaller than the outer interrupted bead 59. In this connection attention is especially directed to Fig. 7 wherein the inner head 28, which may also be considered as representative of bead 29, is'arranged within the outer bead i9. 'I-lowever in Fig. 7, cover i may be considered as in a closed position but shifted longitudinally to the right to arrange its front beads 30 and 3! in alinement with recess 23 and cutaway 24. In such closed relation the cover is unlocked from the frame. Therefore as far as the hinged and sliding connection 'is concerned, the interrupted inner bead 28 of the cover is spaced from lugs rupted head of the cover as it rotates starts to abut lugs I! while the curved or cam portion 36 thereof is in moving contact with the frame ill. However as the cover continues to swin rearwardly base 35 of the inner interrupted bead moves upwardly and against lugs I! while cam portion 36 continues to move and be in contact with the frame as illustrated in Fig. 9. As the cover is further tilted rearwardly the inner interrupted bead although abutting lugs I! start to leave the latter, for example, see Fig. 10 and cam portion 3'1 of the adjacent wing 21 of the cover now strikes the outer bead 19.

Now if the cover is pulled back further, base 35 of the rear inner beads leave lugs H and cams 36 are elevated as disclosed in Fig. 11 but cam portion 31 rides upwardly and outwardly along outer bead l9 and terminal 38 strikes the-inside surface of cam 36. As the cover is pulled back further terminal 38 is lodged against the inner curved surface of cam 35 and interlocks with the terminal 39 thereof as shown in Fig. 12 at which time cam 31 is seated and rests on the upper part of the outer bead l9.

By the present arrangement, it will be apparent that as the cover is raised from its fully closed to its fully opened position, lugs ll prevent the cover from being operatively detached from the frame bead l5 and this relation also holds true when thecover is moved from an open position to its closed position for in closing the progressive opening stages of the cover as illustrated in Figs. 7-12 inclusive occur in a reverse order and hence the lugs I? also prevent, disabling of the slidable and rotatable relation of the rear beads of the cover and frame.

It should be observed that if the lugs I! were not provided in the frame, terminals 39 (Fig. .10) of the latch beads 28 and. 29 during opening of the cover would slip by the terminal 38 of the outer frame bead IS in view of the relatively large frame clearance FC and consequently no operative interhooking or overlapping relation between these terminals would be effected, hence resulting in the separation of the cover from the frame. However lugs I! positively prevent such a separation in that towards the completion of the opening of the cover they act to cam or shift the cover bead towards the frame bead and thus constitute means cooperating with the rear cover bead to insure positive interhooking of the terminals 38 and 39. Or stated in another way the herein desired slidable, rotatable and loose connection would become disabled but for the upstanding lugs l1 adjacent the cover beads 28 and 29 and therefore they render operative the rotatable but swingable connection, for without the provision thereof the swingable connection would be destroyed since the rear cover head would separate or disengage from the rear frame bead on opening ofthe cover.

If it is assumed that the cover isflin a closed and locked relation as shown in Fig. 1, the cover can be unlocked by first applying finger pressure to the knurled part 40 of top 2'6. The cover is then moved to the right until abutment, or wall i5 strikes stop 21 and at this time beads 30 and 3! are in line with recess 23 and cutaway 2i,

that is, at this time, beads and Si loosely straddle part ll of bead 22, which is now within slot 33 of the cover and consequently the latter being unlocked 'may be raised and this in part initially takes place automatically duexto the normal upward thrust applied to the cover sidered as a bearing clearance BC.

by prongs l2 upon removal of finger pressure on the part of the operator.

With the cover partly raised, it may be readily grasped and rotatably swung rearwardly until it assumes its position shown in Fig. 12 at which time access may be readily had to the prongs or to the compressor which is mounted on a stack of papers 42 through which the prongs are threaded.

When it is desired to lock the cover, it is first swung downwardly against the prongs. Thereafter it is shifted to the left, causing beads 30 and 31 to interlock with the outer bead 22 and its intermediate part M. The fully locked position takes place when abutment wall 34 strikes lug or head 2| and under such circumstances the cover fully covers the prongs and therefore since these prongs are now inaccessible they cannot injure the finger nails of the operator or interlock with a companion paper fastener which may be adjacent thereof in a file as is quite customary in actual practice.

For purposes of specification and definition attention is directed to certain structural characteristics of the fastener above specifically del scribed and it will be observed that if the cover or latch l5 even though it be in a closed position in respect to the frame, there is the appreciable gap in the slidable hinged connection between the inner bead 28 (Fig. '7) and the outer bead 19 of the frame and such gap may be con- Also there is present an appreciable gap between the terminal .38 (Fig- 11) of the outer bead [9 of the frame and the upper rectilinear surface of the frame l4 this gap may be as the frame clearance FC. Moreover in the latch or cover there is a gap existing between terminal 39 (Fig. 12) of the rear bead 28 and the cam portion 31 and this gap may be considered as the latch clearance L Thus it is appreciated that even though the cover be closed the free terminal 38 of bead 19 extends into the latch clearance (Fig. 7 and as the cover is swung rearwardly from its closed position as shown in Fig. 7 to the fully opened position, terminal 38 extends through and beyond the latch clearance into the imier bead 28 and ultimately interlocks with the free terminal 39 of the inner eccentrically displaceable bead 28 which as previously pointed out is appreciably smaller than the outer bead 19. With the terminal 38 of the outer bead l9 projected through the latch clearance, the cover may be swung rearwardly to assume an angle approximately 120 in respect'to the frame 14 to permit convenient access to the prongs and it should be noted that as shown the frame clearance is many times greater than the thickness of the frame l4 thus providing adequate space to permit eccentric displacement of the inner bead 28 and such displacement is also facilitated by reason of the appreciable frame clearance to permit the origin of the inner bead to be displaced forwardly during opening of the cover and to be displaced rearwardly upon closing of the cover. By the present arrangement it will be observed that a sliding and swinging as a wide variety of modifications may be made within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. .In' a paper fastener, a frame having a rear hollow bead comprising a terminal defining frame clearance with said frame, a swingable cover having a hollow bead slidably and rotatably but loosely disposed in said frame bead and having a terminal constituting latch clearance with said cover for receiving the terminal of said frame bead to permit rotation of said cover bead in and through said frame clearance, the aforementioned terminal of said cover bead adapted to disconnect from the terminal of said frame bead upon rotation of said cover away from said frame, and abutment means independent of said frame bead and adjacent said cover bead and extending upwardly from said frame and cooperating with said cover bead to pre-' vent said disconnection whereby the terminal of said cover bead interlocks with the terminal of said frame bead.

2. In a paper fastener, a frame having a rear hollow bead comprising a terminal defining frame clearance with said frame, a swingable cover having a hollow bead rotatably but loosely disposed in said frame bead and having a terminal constituting latch clearance with said cover for receiving the terminal of said frame head to permit rotation of said cover beadv in and through said frame clearance, said terminals being disposed in an overlapping relation during initial partial rotation of said cover away from said frame, the aforementioned terminal of said cover bead adapted to disconnect from the terminal of said frame bead upon continuance of said rotation of said cover away from said frame, to remove said overlapping relation, and abutment means independent of said frame bead adjacent said cover bead and extending upwardly from said frame and cooperating with said cover bead to prevent said disconnection to sustain said overlapping relation whereby the terminal of said cover bead interlocks with the terminal of said frame head at the conclusion of 'said rotation of the cover away from the frame.

3. In a paper fastener, a frame having an outer rear hollow bead including a terminal providing with said frame, frame clearance; a cover having a rear bead disposed in the rear bead of said frame and defining therewith bearing clearance and having a terminal providing with said cover latch clearance, said beads constituting a slidable and rotatable detachable connection permitting the terminal of the bead of said frame to extend through the latch clearance and the bead of said cover to move through the frame clearance to progressively increase said bearing clearance during rotation of said cover away; from said frame, and abutment means spaced from and independent of the bead of said frame and disposed adjacent the rear bead of said cover for camming said last mentioned bead towards the bead of said frame and to limit the extent of said bearing clearance and for facilitating interhooking of said terminals to prevent disconnection of said cover from said frame.

4. In a paper fastener, a frame having a longitudinally and rearwardly disposedhollow bead providing with said frame, frame clearance; a swingable cover having a longitudinally and rearwardly disposed hollow bead rotatably arranged in said rear bead of the frame and defining therewith bearing clearance and providing with said cover latch clearance, said hollow beads constituting a loosely pivoted detachable connection permitting a part of the bead of said frame to extend through the latch clearance and a part of the bead of said cover to extend through the frame clearance to progressively increase the bearing clearance on pivoting of said cover away from said frame, and means projecting from and independent of the bead of said frame and disposed adjacent the bead of said cover and constituting stop means to limit displacement of said bead of said cover in a direction away from the bead of said frame to prevent the bead of the cover to disconnect from the bead of said frame during pivoting of said cover relative to said frame.

5. In a paper fastener, a frame having a rear hollow bead including a terminal defining with said frame, frame clearance; a rotatable cover having a hollow rear bead slidably and swingably and disconnectably disposed in said rear bead of the frame and having a terminal defining with said cover latch clearance for receiving the terminal of said cover, lugs extending from said frame and disposed adjacent said rear bead of said cover to prevent separation of the terminal of said rear bead of said cover from. the terminal of said rear bead of said frame during rotation of the bead of said cover through said frame clearance for interhooking the terminal of said frame with the terminal of the head of said cover, and disconnectable means at corresponding front portions of said cover and frame for slidably holding said cover locked.

6. In a paper fastener, a frame having a bottom wall and a rear hollow arcuate bead integral with said wall and having a terminal defining with said wall frame clearance appreciably greater than the thickness of the materia1 of said frame, a cover comprising a wall and a hollow arcuate bead integral with the last mentioned wall having a terminal defining with the wall of said cover latch clearance appreciably greater in thickness than the material of said cover, the head of said cover being disposed within the head of said frame and defining therewith bearing clearance, the bead of the cover being revoluble eccentrically in respect to the bead of the frame to permit projection of the terminal 7 of the bead of the frame through said latch clearance and permit projection of said bead of the cover through said frame clearance, said bearing clearance increasing during swinging of said cover rearwardiy on opening of the latter to permit forward displacement of a part of said bead of the cover and said bearing clearance decreasing during swinging of said cover towards said frame for shifting the bead of said cover out of said frame clearance and into the bead of said frame, the terminal of the head. of said cover adapted to disconnect from the terminal of the head of said frame during opening of said cover, and upstanding means independent of the bead of said cover and carried by said frame and spatially disposed in respect to the bead of said frame but adjacent to and cooperating with the rear bead of said cover to prevent disconnection of said terminals during said opening to allow said terminals to interhook on the complete opening of said cover.

7. In a paper fastener, a frame having a rear bead including a terminal providing with said frame, frame clearance; a cover having a rear bead disposed in said rear bead of the frame and defining therewith bearing clearance and including a terminal providing with said cover latch clearance, said beads constituting a rotatable and slidable connection permitting the terminal of the bead of said frame to extend through the latch. clearance during rotational shifting of said cover transversely of and away from said frame'and permitting the bead of the cover to removably extend into the frame clearance to progressively increase the bearing clearance on said shifting to overlap said terminals, said terminals during said shifting adapted to clear each other to remove said overlap, lugs projecting from said frame adjacent the bead of said cover for camming the latter towards the terminal of said frame to prevent disconnection of said terminals to sustain said overlap during said shifting transversely of said frame, prongs threaded through and adapted to be bent against said frame, beaded disconnectable looking means at the front of said cover and frame to prevent pivotal shifting of said cover in the closed relation of the latter relative to said frame, said prongs exerting a yieldable upward pressure against said cover in the closed relation of the latter to prevent accidental lateral displacement thereof relative to said frame and constituting means for automatically moving said cover away from the frame upon disconnection of said locking means.

8. In a paper fastener, a frame having a rear hollow bead including a terminal defining frame clearance with said frame, a cover substantially coextensive with said frame and having a rear bead slidably and rotatably disposed in said cover bead and including a terminal defining with said cover latch clearance, disconnectable means at the front margins of said frame and cover for slidably locking said cover to said frame and having means for permitting said cover to be swung rotatably and transversely of and away from said frame to allow the terminal of the frame bead to be extended through said latch clearance and said cover bead to rotatably move through said frame clearance for arranging said terminals in overlapping relation prior to the completion of the opening of said cover, said frame clearance towards the conclusion of said opening being greater than the distance substantially normal to the frame from the terminal of said cover bead to said frame when said terminal of the cover bead is closely opposed to the terminal of said frame beadfor removing said overlapping relation to cause separation of said cover bead from said frame bead, lugs carried by said frame adjacent said cover bead for camming the latter at the conclusion of the opening of said cover for shifting said cover bead rearwardly towards said frame bead to sustain said overlapping relation to prevent disconnection .of said cover from said frame, and means to limit slidable displacement of said cover relative to said frame.

STEPHEN A. CROSBY 

